HONG KONG – The Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival, organised by the Tourism Commission, supported by the Hong Kong Geopark and curated by One Bite Design Studio will be held from 13th November, 2024 to 12th January, 2025. Following last year’s accolades, including the Singapore Good Design Award 2024 (Experience Design category) and the Golden Pin Design Award 2024 (Integration Design category), this year’s Festival will return with honour. Themed “Joy Again, Gather”, the Festival will feature ten new art installations celebrating the connections among communities on the four Sai Kung islands built over the last years, inviting everyone to share in the joy. In addition to the installations, the Festival adds new performances that combine artworks with augmented reality (AR) elements. Another highlight includes the first artist from overseas, Juhyung Lee, who is a France-based Korean artist who will design and perform on Sharp Island, marking his debut in Asia outside Korea. The Festival also features contributions from Sai Kung residents and the next generation of the villagers, fostering a meaningful reunion of the past and present. Notably, one artwork is designed for the visually impaired, and inclusive guided tours will be available for individuals with various needs, ensuring everyone can experience the healing power of nature and art.

The Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival offers travellers an immersive experience that blends art, cultural, heritage, and green elements. This year’s Festival features 27 new and retained artworks across Yim Tin Tsai, Sharp Island, Kau Sai Chau, High Island, and Sai Kung Town – 10 pieces in Yim Tin Tsai, 4 on Sharp Island, 5 on Kau Sai Chau, 7 on High Island, and 1 in Sai Kung Town. A highlight is Ken Lo’s installation, “Hi! Sai Kung” located at the Sai Kung promenade. This fiberglass hugging sculpture, painted glossy blue, welcomes visitors and reflects the phosphorescent qualities of the Sai Kung Hoi. Having lived in the district for over 30 years, Ken views the pier as a vital hub, aiming to convey a heartfelt “Hi!” to all visitors.

This year, Yim Tin Tsai will feature two new artworks, namely “Meet’n Meal” by O&O Studio and REhyphenation and “Through the Years to Touch You” by 「X-ARt」. Located in front of an abandoned Hakka village house, “Meet’n Meal” showcases a mosaic of traditional Hakka dishes, inviting audiences to engage and connect through food. “Through the Years to Touch You” is situated at the old pier and combines bamboo sculptures, AR elements, and performances that express the emotions of villagers returning home. Christopher Chan of 「X-ARt」, a ninth-generation Yim Tin Tsai villager, draws inspiration from his father’s stories to convey his deep emotional ties to the community through this work.

This year, Sharp Island features a new artwork by an overseas artist Juhyung Lee, breaking new ground for the Festival by fostering international connections. The French artistic team Galmae, led by Korean artist Juhyung Lee, presents “It’s Not Here, It’s Over Here”, an installation that uses ropes to create a space for free movement and interaction among visitors. Juhyung believes that “the sum of individuals exceeds its individual parts,” emphasising shared experiences on the journey. The piece has been performed over 90 times in France and 14 other countries, supported by various French and Korean arts organisations. This presentation marks its first exhibition in Asia outside Korea, generating significant excitement.

Since Kau Sai Chau and High Island joined the Festival last year, the Festival garnered widespread acclaim. The kaito (street ferry), which had been out of service for over twenty years, resumed operations, allowing visitors to explore the islands and villagers to reconnect with their childhood homes. New artworks on Kau Sai Chau, including “The Root of Squids” and “Village Whisper” highlight the island’s maritime stories. Villager Kelvin Ho and designer Jenny Tse transformed an indoor space into an ecological environment for bigfin reef squid, immersing audiences in the narrative of squid migration and fostering community ties. The team behind “Village Whisper”, Beyond Vision International, collected stories and daily objects from Kau Sai Chau to create tactile interactive installations for visually impaired individuals, offering a unique way to engage with the island’s history beyond visual representation

High Island features four new artworks this year inspired by mythology and oral traditions, adding a fantastical element to the area. Artist Vivian Ho’s “The Chronicles of High Island” consists of three murals connecting the unique characteristics of the island’s villages, showcasing local flora, fauna, and Hakka and fishing cultures. Audiences should explore the villages to fully appreciate the murals and the stunning scenery. Sculptor Ban Zhang and his studio ZLAB’s “Prismatic Rainbow Mascot” is a sculpture located in front of the Tin Hau Temple, honouring the Goddess of the Sea for blessing local fishermen and residents. The “Prismatic Rainbow Mascot” will display a unique form of visual art viewing – as the audience moves, the perspectives reflected in the work’s mirrored surfaces will shift, allowing them to perceive deeper layers of consciousness and consciousness within the realms of illusion. “Dance with the Wind at Kwong Wo Yuen” created by leading conservation expert Fung Wai Keung and artist Stefan Chui, is situated at a former grocery store and features a restored sign that evokes nostalgia while showcasing Tung A Village’s culture. The sign is 22-word long listing out the items that were sold at the store. The flags incorporate traditional Chinese mythological creatures – the Ao fish, symbolising the power and vitality of nature, and the Qilin, representing auspicious blessings. Finally, “Rhythm of the Dragon” by architects Shi Qi and Adrian Siu, is located on Tung A beach, with a dragon’s tail that hides and emerges with the tides. Made from recycled plastic, the dragon scales flutter in the wind, symbolising the cycle of life. To foster community engagement, local residents were invited to paint the scales, adding a personal touch to the artwork.

The Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival offers audiences in-depth experiences of the islands through various guided tours and programmes. Over 400 free guided tours will be available, including regular tours, themed tours, and inclusive tours designed for visually impaired individuals, people with disabilities, seniors with cognitive decline, students with special educational needs (SEN), and ethnic minorities. The regular guided tours feature five routes that highlight the cultural characteristics of each island and cover a variety of themes, namely Route 1: Art & Catholic Culture Route – Catholic Approaches @ Yim Tin Tsai; Route 2: Art & Hakka Culture Route – Arriving in the Hakka Field @ Yim Tin Tsai; Route 3: Art & Nature Route – From Far Away to Nowadays @ Sharp Island; Route 4: Art & Fish Culture Route – Unearthing the Fishing Gems @ Kau Sai Village; and Route 5: Art & Historical Culture Route – Rippling in Hakka Fishery @ High Island.

The themed guided tours feature six routes that cover topics such as geology, environment and art, catering for a variety of interests:
● Sai Kung Geo Boat Tour @ Sai Kung
● Yim Tin Tsai Theatrical Tour @ Yim Tin Tsai
● Geo Tour on Sharp Island @ Sharp Island
● Exploring Tour for Visually Impaired @ Kau Sai Chau (Kau Sai
Village)
● Family Hiking Geo Tour @ High Island
● Artworks Tour @ Yim Tin Tsai / Sharp Island

This year, four new inclusive guided tours will be organised to allow individuals with different needs to enjoy the scenery, art and culture of the Sai Kung islands together. The Accessible Sai Kung Hoi Tour is designed specifically for wheelchair users. In addition to viewing the artwork “Hi! Sai Kung” at Sai Kung Pier, participants will visit several local attractions in the area. The Eco-Exploration Family Tour is tailored for SEN students to step outside the classroom and learn through observation of the rich ecology on the islands. The Tour for Elderlies with Dementia is for seniors and individuals with cognitive impairments. Participants and their caregivers will visit Kau Sai Village for a sensory experience that connects them with daily life and nature. Finally, the Non-Chinese Speaking Tour allows non-Chinese residents of the Sai Kung area to explore the various islands, deepening their understanding of both familiar and unfamiliar aspects of the community, broadening their imagination, and enhancing their sense of belonging to Sai Kung. Participation in the inclusive guided tours will be arranged through social service organisations for those in need but will not be open for public registration.

In addition, over 90 different types of programmes will take place during the Festival in Sai Kung Town and the four islands, covering a range of areas including performances, family activities, and village culture. This year, the Festival will explore various forms of “gathering”, featuring performances that integrate artistic installations and collaborative programmes with local villagers. These include Through the Years to Touch You, an AR performance that evokes reflections and memories of separation from loved ones and the yearning to return; It’s Not Here, It’s Over Here, a public participatory performance by a French team, Galmae, led by a Korean artist at Sharp Island; Soul of Hoi ,a multidisciplinary performance that combines sculpture, dance, sound and ocarina music; and A Golden Cage, a solo play that deeply explores themes of family, love and self-identity.

Elsewhere, visitors can also experience village culture such as rowing a wooden boat, dyeing cloth with yam and weaving fishnet with villagers, enjoy family-friendly events by the beach and indulge in good food while stargazing. Two island-hopping kaito routes will continue to operate during the Festival, including Route A from Sai Kung to Yim Tin Tsai and Sharp Island, and Route B from Sai Kung to Kau Sai Chau (Kau Sai Village) and High Island. Route A is operated by the Festival; visitors can pre-purchase island-hopping kaito tickets on the Festival website and redeem the tickets at the Arts Festival Visitor Information Kiosk on the day of their visit. If seats are still available on that day, visitors can also purchase tickets on-site. Each ticket includes three rides and is priced at HKD 100.

Route B operated by Tsui Wah Ferry is a licensed regular service approved by the Transport Department. The one-way fare is HKD 65 (for adults and children), and seniors with a JoyYou Card and eligible persons with disabilities can enjoy the ride for HKD 2. During the Festival, additional services will be offered from Tuesdays to Fridays, with extra services on weekends and public holidays. Visitors wishing to visit Kau Sai Village and High Island during the Festival can pre-order island-hopping kaito tickets at a discounted price of HKD 160 for three rides, which also provides priority boarding.

In anticipation of this year’s Festival, curator Alan Cheung said, “This marks the final year of our three-year Festival. We aim to connect experiences from previous years, exploring various forms of ‘gathering’ through art and immersive experiences. Our themes of global convergence, reunion, and inclusiveness will be reflected in the new artworks and over 400 guided tours and more than 90 free programmes. To enhance the island-hopping experiences, we’ve created the ‘Travel Log’ as a souvenir, allowing visitors to learn about the unique features of the five Festival locations, details of the artworks, and collect stamps from each artwork to personalise their memories.”

Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival runs from 13th November 2024 to 12th January 2025. More information available here